NRC: Shippingport nuke building evacuated for CO2 release

SHIPPINGPORT, Pa. (AP) — The Nuclear Regulatory Commission says a western Pennsylvania power plant had to evacuate a turbine building for about 90 minutes due to excess carbon dioxide.

The Beaver County Times (http://bit.ly/11G3TIA ) reports the incident began at 8:23 a.m. Friday at FirstEnergy Corp.'s Beaver Valley Nuclear Power Station in Shippingport. That's about 35 miles northwest of Pittsburgh.

NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan has the incident was cleared by 9:55 a.m. and has been classified an "unusual event," the lowest of four emergency levels classified by the agency.

The NRC will review FirstEnergy's investigation and any actions the utility takes to fix the problem.

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Nobody was hurt by the problem and the plant's electrical output wasn't affected by the incident.

The turbine unit it located in the same reactor unit that was recently shut down for two weeks by a malfunctioning generator.